Traditional swords-and-sorcery role-playing games, like Dungeons and Dragons and its bastard successor Pathfinder, thrive on empowering their players, making them feel like heroes who can conquer any challenge with their wits, muscles, and magic items. These games are pretty much the opposite of horror role-playing games like Call of Cthulhu, which aim to disempower their players, to make them…

Summer can be expensive – holidays, air conditioning, building a bunker in your backyard and stocking it with supplies in case Trump becomes President. It’s also a rubbish time for video gaming, as companies hold everything back in order to cash in on the impending acquisitive orgy of Christmas. But do not despair! I have been…

This time last year, I was done with wargaming, ending 20 years of involvement in a hobby that had even included a brief stint managing my local Games Workshop, and a much longer stint working its tills and painting its models. I was finished, my enthusiasm drained by Games Workshop’s focus on younger gamers and the…